A few months ago, we noticed something funny in our neighborhood: a chicken was wandering around the street on our block. Kind of weird, right? We figured someone in our neighborhood must have a coop in his backyard, and one had just gotten loose. Surely, said chicken owner would show up anytime to pick up his missing chicken, right? Right?!
A couple days later, the chicken wasn't gone. In fact, we realized that there were two of them. And they didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
A couple days after that, we made our next disturbing discovery: the chickens were roosting in our front yard. Yes, they had apparently taken up residence in our bushes. This seemed pretty strange, especially since we had never done anything to encourage them to stick around.
And then we learned that our neighbors, bless their hearts, had been FEEDING THEM!!!
During all this time, I was in the throes of studying for my exam. So while it was kind of random to have these chickens around, and a little annoying that they had made themselves right at home in our front yard, they just weren't really enough of a menace to do anything about it.
One day, we noticed that one of the chickens seemed pretty worked up about something. That, and we couldn't see the other chicken around anywhere - the only sign was a mess of feathers in the front yard. We figured some predator must have gotten it. And frankly, we were okay with that, and we were holding on to hope that it would return for the other one.
No such luck. Instead, a few days later, the missing hen was replaced - by a ROOSTER!!!
This brought things to a whole different level. With the rooster around, they were digging up our mulch and some of our plants, using our driveway as their litter box, and yeah, since there was now a rooster, he was making sure to let us know the very moment the sun came up. Every. Day.
Oh, by the way, these tenants have never paid rent. We've never seen a single egg to compensate for the trouble they're causing. They're just 100% freeloading.
Now, it was time to call animal control. But then we learned that one of our neighbors already had. And guess what? They weren't going to do anything about it. Why? Because apparently right now there is an epidemic of chickens in Los Angeles.
I've tried to find the logic in this. I really have. If there's an epidemic of something, don't you want to pick up a rooster/hen combination to prevent a further epidemic? Don't you want to respond to the people who are letting you know they've spotted some more of the offenders?
Apparently not.
Next step, we found a meetup group of chicken lovers in Los Angeles. (Yes, this actually exists. There are over 1300 members of this group.) We took a flattering picture of the couple and posted it on their page, telling everyone that if they wanted 'em, they could come and get 'em. For free!!
We've had one person respond, gushing about what a cute couple they were but that she was already at capacity, and another person who said that she could take the hen but not the rooster. I'm hesitant. Maybe if we get rid of the hen, the rooster will go away on its own. But what if the hen is the only bargaining power we've got to get rid of the rooster?!
At this point, we just may chance it.
A couple days later, the chicken wasn't gone. In fact, we realized that there were two of them. And they didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
A couple days after that, we made our next disturbing discovery: the chickens were roosting in our front yard. Yes, they had apparently taken up residence in our bushes. This seemed pretty strange, especially since we had never done anything to encourage them to stick around.
And then we learned that our neighbors, bless their hearts, had been FEEDING THEM!!!
During all this time, I was in the throes of studying for my exam. So while it was kind of random to have these chickens around, and a little annoying that they had made themselves right at home in our front yard, they just weren't really enough of a menace to do anything about it.
One day, we noticed that one of the chickens seemed pretty worked up about something. That, and we couldn't see the other chicken around anywhere - the only sign was a mess of feathers in the front yard. We figured some predator must have gotten it. And frankly, we were okay with that, and we were holding on to hope that it would return for the other one.
No such luck. Instead, a few days later, the missing hen was replaced - by a ROOSTER!!!
This brought things to a whole different level. With the rooster around, they were digging up our mulch and some of our plants, using our driveway as their litter box, and yeah, since there was now a rooster, he was making sure to let us know the very moment the sun came up. Every. Day.
Oh, by the way, these tenants have never paid rent. We've never seen a single egg to compensate for the trouble they're causing. They're just 100% freeloading.
Now, it was time to call animal control. But then we learned that one of our neighbors already had. And guess what? They weren't going to do anything about it. Why? Because apparently right now there is an epidemic of chickens in Los Angeles.
I've tried to find the logic in this. I really have. If there's an epidemic of something, don't you want to pick up a rooster/hen combination to prevent a further epidemic? Don't you want to respond to the people who are letting you know they've spotted some more of the offenders?
Apparently not.
Next step, we found a meetup group of chicken lovers in Los Angeles. (Yes, this actually exists. There are over 1300 members of this group.) We took a flattering picture of the couple and posted it on their page, telling everyone that if they wanted 'em, they could come and get 'em. For free!!
We've had one person respond, gushing about what a cute couple they were but that she was already at capacity, and another person who said that she could take the hen but not the rooster. I'm hesitant. Maybe if we get rid of the hen, the rooster will go away on its own. But what if the hen is the only bargaining power we've got to get rid of the rooster?!
At this point, we just may chance it.
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